Such An
Order To Such A Regiment Means That The Occasion Will Seem
Favourable.
Up they went in three extended lines, dropping forty or
fifty on the way, but arriving breathless and enthusiastic upon the
crest of the ridge.
Below them, upon the further side, lay the
village of Bethlehem. On the slopes beyond hundreds of horsemen
were retreating, and a gun was being hurriedly dragged into the
town. For a moment it seemed as if nothing had been left as a
trophy, but suddenly a keen-eyed sergeant raised a cheer, which was
taken up again and again until it resounded over the veld. Under
the crest, lying on its side with a broken wheel, was a gun - one of
the 15-pounders of Stormberg which it was a point of honour to
regain once more. Many a time had the gunners been friends in need
to the infantry. Now it was the turn of the infantry to do
something in exchange. That evening Clements had occupied
Bethlehem, and one more of their towns had passed out of the hands
of the Freestaters.
A word now as to that force under General Hunter which was closing
in from the north. The gallant and energetic Hamilton, lean,
aquiline, and tireless, had, as already stated, broken his
collar-bone at Heidelberg, and it was as his lieutenant that Hunter
was leading these troops out of the Transvaal into the Orange River
Colony. Most of his infantry was left behind at Heidelberg, but he
took with him Broadwood's cavalry (two brigades) and Bruce
Hamilton's 21st infantry brigade, with Ridley's mounted infantry,
some seven thousand men in all.
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